31 Days of Mindfulness for Christians (Days 15-31)

Days 15-31 are below. Click the link and the page will open. Enjoy!

But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesian 4:20-24)

As part of the 31 Days writing challenge, I will be posting once a day, everyday for the month of October, 2015.

I’ve chosen to write about Mindfulness for Christians. For some people mindfulness brings to mind images of Buddhists and new age followers sitting on the floor, legs crossed, while emptying their mind in order to achieve internal peace. False myths about mindfulness are common, but is far from the truth about practicing mindfulness.

The written reflections or videos will be short, ranging from 5 minutes for readings only to a maximum of 15 minutes for the videos. There will only be one of each, but not both.

What is Mindfulness?

From the Mindfulness Institute, “Mindfulness refers to intentionally being present in the present moment with acceptance and non-judgement. ….Although the term is of Buddhist origins, mindfulness is ubiquitous – a natural part of being human. We have all experienced at least moments of mindfulness, of being fully present to the present moment.”

Christian therapist Fernando Garzon, PsyD has developed a Christian based understanding of mindfulness and states the differences compared to secular mindfulness:

“Christian devotional meditation, sometimes also called contemplative prayer, has 2000 years-worth of authors and definitions. For the purposes of this article, I define CDM as a variety of strategies designed to enhance focused attention on the Trinity, Scripture, or one’s self for one or more of the following purpose(s): (a) deepening one’s relationship with the Lord, (b) cultivating spiritual growth or emotional healing, and (c) growing in love towards one’s neighbor and one’s self (Garzon, In Press).

Three Differences

The table below highlights three key differences between CDM and mindfulness.

Attributes:

Mindfulness

CDM

Focus

Self

God, Scripture, & Self

Meditation Relational Context

Self-Awareness

Self-Awareness + God-Awareness

Key Attitudes

Acceptance & self-compassion

Trust, Confession, Surrender, & Grace

While mindfulness focuses the meditator on the self’s internal and external experience, CDM immerses the meditator in God, Scripture, and self-experience.” Source: Fernando Garzon, PsyD, http://www.christianpsych.org.